When Anna Baker is fired from her New York job, she accepts her aunt and uncle’s offer to come live with them in the little town of Wabbaseka, Arkansas. She discovers a house in dire need of repairs and her relatives in need of proper care. Under the misconception that being unemployed means she has no money, the local sheriff gets involved in her life, trying to determine how she can afford the building materials to fix up the house. Her cousin, Dewayne, appears and wants her evicted, and the FBI thinks she’s involved in a money-laundering scheme. While Anna doesn’t find the peace and quiet she seeks, she may find love…

“Last Friday when I was doing some work at the church, Sam Johnson asked me to step into his office. He tells me he’s heard of my commendable charity in doing all the work on this house for nothing. Then he hands me a check for two thousand dollars. Says the parishioners pulled the money together to help cover my costs.”

Anna leaned back and covered her face with her hands. “Oh shit,” she muttered.

“Of course, I tried to refuse the check, but Sam wouldn’t hear of it. The parishioners wanted me to have it for my selfless act of charity.” He eyed her for a moment, then continued. “I hope you see I had no choice—”

Anna glared at him. “You didn’t tell him the truth. He’s the worst gossip in town.”

“No. I knew the truth was an unacceptable option, so keep that in mind when I tell you what I did tell him.”

“What?” This didn’t sound good at all.

“I told him, in good conscience I couldn’t take the check, because it was not out of charity but out of lust for your body that I worked so long and hard on the Larringtons’ house.”

“You told him what?”

“I told him I lusted after your body.”

“Which explains the sermon this Sunday! Couldn’t you think of anything else?” She slapped him across the arm.

“I’m sorry. It was a spur of the moment lie. Besides, it was at least marginally believable.”

“Marginally?”

“Well, you’re not my type. However, I have to admit, in this dress….”

“I can’t believe you told him that.”

Jeremy shrugged. “I thought it was pretty clever. I’ve seen the way Johnson looks at you. He knew exactly what I was talking about.”

Anna scrunched her face up in disgust. “Sam Johnson has the hots for me?”

“Yep,” Jeremy smiled.

“I’m going to be sick.”

“Don’t worry I told him that you and I were an item. You’re too tainted now for his taste.”

Anna pondered this. “I’m trying to decide whether I should kill you or kiss you.”

“Do I get a vote?”

“No.”

“Because if I did get a vote—”

“You don’t.”

“I’d point out kissing me has multiple benefits over killing me.”

“Name two.”

“One, it would be more fun.”

“Not necessarily.”

Jeremy laughed. “Well, it would definitely be more fun for me.”

“You don’t count.”

“I object to your limited perspective. However, another good reason is kissing me would support my claim we are dating. Whereas killing me, well, that’s not very supportive.”

“Try this for supportive. Get off the counter and set the table.”

He stopped at the door and looked back at her. “You know you want me…” he teased.

Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels.

Just one wild night with a gorgeous stranger and then, they’d go their separate ways.

But what happens when her one-night stand turns into something more?

Some one-night stands are just that: one-night stands. But for transplant physician Addison Rowe, it means a baby and a story she’ll stick to about being a single mother – via a sperm donor. After all, she’s got a professional reputation to protect.

But when building contractor Jordan O’Halloran returns to New York after a year spent building schools in Southeast Asia, Addison will need to decide whether maintaining appearances is more important than reuniting a father with the daughter he never knew.

But even if the answer comes easily, Addison will need to navigate through a maze of intercultural family expectations and an ex-girlfriend who hasn’t yet let go of her first love.

*A light-hearted follow-up to the bestselling novel Everything She Ever Wanted, Falling for Jordan is the second book in A Different Kind of Love series that readers have called “moving,” “riveting,” and “emotional.” While the book can be read separately, it’s best appreciated when read after Everything She Ever Wanted, book 1 of A Different Kind of Love series.

“I texted you a few hours ago but didn’t get a reply so I thought I’d come by to leave a note. But the women at the front said they’d check to see if you were available,” he adds. “So what’s so important that you couldn’t just say in a text message?”

I take a deep breath. It’s now or never, Addy. Tell him. “That night we spent together? I got pregnant.”

He stares at me for a few seconds and I can’t help but notice how the room seems so quiet. “Excuse me?”

“I got pregnant,” I repeat.

“But we used protection that night.”

All three times we did it, I know. “Well, somehow it failed.”

“What happened to the baby?” he asks. “Did you keep it?”

“She’s ten weeks old.”

He looks at me in shock, blowing air between his lips. He’s quiet for a few moments and I don’t push it. It’s not every day some woman you barely know tells you that you got her pregnant. But then, looking like he does, I may not be the first either. I wonder if I should have had Kathy in here to act as a mediator in case things get testy or if he hyperventilates and passes out. But Kathy doesn’t know the circumstances of my pregnancy. No one does except me. And now Jordan.

“What’s her name?”

His question throws me off. For so long, I’ve had a different scenario replaying in my head, of a man who gets angry and then refuses to have any involvement with the child, not even caring to know if it’s a girl or a boy. In my head, he simply tells me it’s my problem and walks away. It’s never been anything else.

She’s smart, independent, and heartbroken. He’s cocky, a bit rough around the edges, and too young.

But when a scheduling mistake lands a heartbroken doctor and a cocky woodworker in the same place at the same time, can their fling turn into the real thing?

When her husband leaves her for a younger woman, 40-year-old surgeon Harlow James finds herself without family, friends, and barely a career. So she trades the bright lights of New York for the open road and ends up at the Pearl, a sustainable Earthship outside of Taos, New Mexico where she hopes to find out where she went wrong.

For woodworker Dax Drexel, the Pearl is where he retreats from the world to design his award-winning furniture. Unfortunately, the Pearl’s already got an occupant and she’s currently passed out on his bed, naked. He really should mind his own business but he can’t, not when there’s a gun in the living room, next to a tear-stained note that begins with, “I’m sorry I failed you…”

Join Dax and Harlow in a journey that readers have called “heartfelt,” “riveting,” and “amazingly emotional.”

Liz’s first foray into writing was back in eighth-grade when her steamy taboo serial was passed around during Homeroom and almost got her suspended. In return for not informing her parents about her over-active and dirty imagination, she agreed to be assigned to the Poetry club for the rest of high school.

It took some time after that sudden burst of dirty inspiration in eighth grade, but Liz has since published ten books and countless short stories. She’s the author of the bestselling novel, Everything She Ever Wanted and Loving Ashe, and is currently working on more stories about Dax, Ashe, and company.

Liz lives in Southern California with her family, a Chihuahua mix, and way too many books.

A paranormal short story set in Scotland, with cultural heritage at its heart.

Summer in Scotland, and Mari is working on an archaeological dig of a Viking burial ship during Beltane, a time of the year when the veil shrouding the spirit world thins.

What could possibly go wrong?

A Beltane Gift is a contemporary story with historical elements and a wee bit of the paranormal. It won first prize in the PGP Short Story Competition in August 2015. It is also available as part of the anthology Tendrils.

A Beltane Gift, Beyond Time: Book 1, is a story that begs for more. You can follow Mari as she searches for answers in A Bell for Valor. And watch for additional adventures in the Beyond Time series of Quick Reads.

A Quick Read book is a short story available as a single small book. In both ebook and paper format, it is a perfect small gift or for escaping to another place and reality when you only have a tiny block of spare time.

A wisp of a sound snatched her attention and she looked up, startled. The red fox stood just inside the circle of light cast from her fire. The source of the sound came from what it held in its jaws.

Standing, she moved toward the fox, anticipating it would run away. The fox allowed her two steps toward it, then slowly lowered its head and deposited a small animal on the ground before drifting back a few paces into the shadows.

It was a kitten of approximately two months of age, with long hair, bushy tail, ginger-colored thick fur around the head and large paws, but the rest was in shades of black and gray tiger stripes. It studied Mari with eerily intelligent heather-blue eyes. She approached the little animal and held out the back of her hand to be sniffed. In a quiet voice, she spoke to the fox. “Why do you have a kitten and why bring it here?”

A strange, almost atonal, voice came from the archeological dig. “Tha kitten is here ’cause I asked Ruadh ta bring it.”

She whirled, seeking the source of the voice.

It came again. “T’was ah good name an tha fox appreciates it.” Emerging from the shadows was the unsubstantial form of a Viking.

Holly’s world is shaped by her love of family (which includes an adorable rescue kitty who has stolen her heart), the beauty of nature and an irrepressible curiosity that frequently has her turning over rocks and questioning what she finds. This sometimes sends the reader down a rabbit hole into an alternate view of the world than what they expected. Holly’s mind can be an interesting place.Her motto: Weaving Alternative Worlds with Threads From Today.

Abby Parker planned out her whole life: complete her final year of high school, go to college, get a job, move away from her insane family, stay best friends with Jessica.

But, that was before she broke into the nearby tourist attraction and unwittingly answered a call from a centuries-old spirit who dragged her into the 19th century.

Now she must solve a Victorian mystery without getting herself killed, or worse, spend a lifetime trapped in the past, leaving behind everyone she loves and altering their lives forever.

When she meets gorgeous Benjamin, the future looks a lot like wreckage.

I waited for him to make the next move, to tell me how inappropriate, how forward that was of me. As I struggled to think of how best to offer an explanation, he turned to me. Gently but deliberately, he moved his hand up my arm, stopping at the nape of my neck beneath the ribbon of the bonnet.

The moment he leaned in, I closed my eyes. His lips, soft and full, touched mine with the modest pressure of an indecisive act. A warm energy coursed through my body, but the strangest thing was that everything felt unbelievably familiar, like it had all been rehearsed before that moment. I held onto this profound feeling, not wanting it to leave, until Ben removed his lips from mine.

Even with the whistled melodies from a pair of cardinals outside the church’s entrance, the following silence felt awkward. It persisted, and I assumed Ben was already regretting kissing me.

“Miss Abigail−”

I brought up a hand and covered his mouth. “It’s okay.”

We walked down the hill without saying another word. A lot of activity was happening on Main Street: coaches lined the front of the Royal Hotel as travelers zipped in and out of the main entrance; horse carts delivered goods in dashes of haste; store merchants hurried beyond their open doors; street sellers sold goods out of baskets; helpers swept the boardwalk; ladies could be seen purchasing last minute necessities behind the windows of each shop.

Ben accompanied me up the stairs of Town Hall’s entrance and stopped on the landing before we reached the front door. I peered through the window. Martha arranged long-stemmed flowers in a vase on a table at the side of the ballroom. A young man placed a candelabra on a table and then another on top of a piano. Ben had already started back to the street when I turned. He waved. I waved back. Still a chance he’ll change his mind.

The gloves were easier to remove now that one was missing its button. I placed them, and the button, on the ledge of the window and took off the ring.

Jess was still sitting on my bed when the haze cleared, but her tapping fingers had moved from her chin, which now rested on her knuckles. It was obvious it had taken longer for me to return this time. It made sense to me right then that the ring held within it a finite amount of energy with which to transport me to the past and back home, like a battery depleting its energy with each use. And, I had no idea how to recharge it

Nancy Thorne is an award-winning author of fiction inspired by the romance, courage and struggles of youth.

Born and raised in a suburb of Toronto, she fostered a passion for creating stories in grade school but hid it much too well. Five years ago she stepped away from the pediatric health care field to pursue her lifelong dream of telling them.

When she’s not writing books or reading, she’s dreaming.

Nancy lives outside of Toronto with her husband, two sons and an incredibly energetic fox-red labrador.

Morgan lives in the south of Texas with her family. When she’s not writing, she can usually be found with her nose stuck in a book, cooking, baking, crocheting, and causing a general ruckus with her friends and family! Filled with an overactive imagination at a young age, she began writing her thoughts down in a journal, and the rest, as they say, is history.

One day, life was perfect. Then, there was a knock at the door.One minute I was a mother and wife, the next, I was a widow. Broken doesn’t happen over time, it happens in the blink of an eye. Depression owned me. Heartache consumed me. Reality finally stepped in and made me wake up. I had people depending on me – the only two people left in this world that loved me.

I would start over for my children.

Rhett

Ranching isn’t for everyone.At one time, it wasn’t for me either. I’d wanted more from life, but I ended up strung out and unhappy. When family needed me, I returned home.Being back home gave me a new lease on life, but I had no idea what that meant until I saw her for the first time. I needed her in my life. Hopefully, I’d be able to help this woman become whole. Because without her, whole would become a memory.

This is a spirited and truly touching story of love, loss and second chances. We all face struggles in life at one time or another. You either overcome and prosper, or let them take you down. ~ KA Graham, Goodreads Reviewer

What an amazing and truly moving story. This story is at times heartwarming and at other heartbreaking. The author has done an amazing job of giving you a story that touches on just about every emotion one can experience. I’m truly touched by this story. I will warn you that chocolate and tissues is a must when you read this one. I recommend this book to anyone who love a good story about survival, love, and second chances. ~ Mindy Seal, Goodreads Reviewer

I’m a Carolina Girl by right and a Texan by birth… so I have a Texas-sized temper. Living and working in both states I’ve learned a lot about hard work, adapting to your surroundings and making the best of the path that you have been led down. My grandma Dollie once told me I would know what I was meant to do when it happened. She was right, as always.

As with most book lovers, I am an avid reader. Reading has always been a hobby – a passion, really. Reading helps to expand the perimeters of one’s mind. That is what got me to start writing as a kid. If I had paper…or a wall… I was writing. Words are a part of us all. Why not use them, right?

During the day I work as a ‘desk jockey’ and help the residents of my county navigate themselves around our little, but not too little country town. By night I am either blogging, doing PA work for some of my favorite authors or I am fighting with the voices in my head. (They can be stubborn at times.) It’s a way to cope and make the troubles of the day disappear, if only for a few hours. It’s a blessing and I am cherishing every moment. For that which is my creation, may become someone else’s treasure.

Tomorrow is never guaranteed so I want to make sure I live the day as fully as possible.

As a Guardian of the realm, Blaéz is aware of the danger that can shadow him, but he’s determined to give his human mate the wedding of her dreams. Flowers, ring, and all, including following a baffling mortal tradition of abstinence—a challenge he gamely takes on.

Then the past and future clash…

Things start to unravel when an old adversary from an accursed life he thought long over suddenly reappears. Blaéz realizes it’s a tie he must sever and finally put an end to a longstanding feud. A straightforward job…until his vindictive nemesis snatches his mate.

It’s a time of reckoning…

Blaéz will risk and do anything to get her back. But first, he must face his own dark and painful past for a future with the one woman who is his very heartbeat.

If he doesn’t, it just might destroy everything he’s fought for…

As they passed the bikers hanging near the motorcycles and puffing up a pungent storm of smoke, Blaéz slowed down, scanning the side street. At the sudden prickles coasting his skin, he changed direction and headed deeper into the alley instead of finding a darkened place to dematerialize back home. Away from the humans, he moved in preternatural speed, skirting the dumpsters and several fallen crates spilled in his path.

“O-kay, so we’re heading for Club Anarchy instead of the castle.” Týr’s droll tone drifted to him. “You need…entertaining?”

“Not at all.” Blaéz halted, the itch bearing down his back intensifying. He searched the dark alley with its looming warehouses. “Something doesn’t feel right, and hasn’t for a while.”

“Well, then, let’s find out what shit’s stirring and clean it out.” A dark grin appeared. “It’s been my kinda week. Blood, gore, and chances of more decapitation? Perfect.”

Blaéz shook his head at Týr’s penchant for bloody violence and surveyed the rooftops of the warehouses. “You sure have a way with words. Hallmark should be grateful they don’t have you on their team.”

“Stop with the interruptions. Don’t care if they’re pink, it’s how the damn rhyme goes. Roses are red, violets are blue, Darci’s so lovely, how in the hell did she end up with a fucker like you—” His amused gaze shifted to Blaéz. “Okay, it needs some fine-tuning, but I should be good to go on the big day.”

“Not if you want to keep your head.” Blaéz slowed down, his attention on the throng of people lumbering out of the club. A flash of light hair caught his gaze and an eerily familiar sensation skated over his psyche. “Shit.”

“What?” Týr asked, scanning the crowd, too.

Without answering, Blaéz took off across the street. Since the demon bouncers knew the Guardians, he sprinted into the club, avoiding the partygoers in the dimly lit corridor, and shoved the metal door open. The pounding rock music reverberating against the walls barely made an impact as he dodged bodies fumbling about in the darkened club, skidding to a halt on the landing. He scanned the interior. Despite the imminent arrival of closing time, the place still swarmed with revelers.

“Fuck, Celt, who the hell are we chasing? At least then I know whom to kill,” Týr growled from his side.

“I’m not sure…I think I saw Finnén.”

Týr cut him a sharp look. “Your twin?”

His expression grim, Blaéz nodded, probing the upper VIP level with his mind for his kin’s familiar vibe.

“Perhaps you saw someone else who looks like him?”

“Perhaps. He wouldn’t dare show his face in this realm knowing I wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if he came after us again.”

For You, I Will is a companion novella to Breaking Fate. Here’s the blurb…

An immortal without a soul is bad enough. But when his only tether to remaining honorable is his addiction to bone-crushing pain, it makes Blaéz a dangerously loose cannon.

A Guardian sworn to protect mortals from supernatural evil, Blaéz straddles the edge of darkness as his needs grow. When a good deed brings him to the doorstep of a female unlike any other, one whose touch ignites emotions long lost in the hellish pits of Tartarus, he’s determined not to lose her. She belongs to him. But she’s human. Forbidden. And bringing her into his life may just destroy them both.

Darci Callahan has given up on love. But when a lethally handsome stranger suddenly appears late one night, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to the captivating man with the pale, empty eyes—a man who awakens in her a desire she never believed possible. Except Blaéz brings more than unexpected passion to her life, he brings danger.

In this treacherous new world of gods and demons, Darci soon discovers a heart-shattering truth and the twisted games the gods play. Caught in the crosshairs, she’s forced to accept that, sometimes, no matter how much you love someone, you have to love them enough to let them go…

I’ve been creating stories from the moment I could string two words together. No matter the tale, it always has romance woven through them. Yes, I’m a hopeless romantic.

When I’m not writing or plotting new books, I like to read, travel, painting, or troll flea markets where I usually buy things I might never actually use because they’re so pretty.

After working in a few jobs all art related, a chosen career as a fashion designer, then an art teacher, I finally found my passion four years ago: writing. There really is no other job I’d rather do.

After five years of hell with an abusive husband, Natasha Hartford vows never to trust another man. Then she stumbles onto a murder scene and meets sexy, stubborn Homicide Detective Chase Brandon, a take-no-prisoners tough guy who’ll settle for nothing less than the truth. Sparks fly, but Chase’s suspicions and Natasha’s innate distrust block the way to happiness.

The detective struggles with his own troubled past and is determined to find the truth behind the shadows dimming Natasha’s eyes. As more murders occur and a possible connection to her ex-husband appears, Chase fears her life is in danger.

Natasha and Chase race to find the killer before he strikes again. Their survival depends on their willingness to overcome their mistrust of one another. Will they overcome their fears and find love again?

A whimper escaped her mouth, and she drew her knees to her chest in a protective ball.

He chuckled, though mirth was absent in the chilling laugh. “This is your fault, Natasha. You pushed me too far. You know how upset I get when you’re contrary.” His furious gaze seared her like a fresh blow.

He prodded her leg with the toe of one gleaming shoe. “Well, what’s your answer, my dear? Will you do as I ask, or do we have to go through this tiring ritual again?”

She curled into a tighter ball, protecting her stomach, covering her head with her arms.

“Well?” He nudged her thigh.

“Okay. I’ll do what you want. Just stop hurting me. Please.” Her stomach twisted at the whine in her voice. She hated this. Hated the way he seeped into her soul like a vile poison and destroyed her self-respect. Hated how she cowered before him, willing to do anything to stop the pain. Hated him. Hated herself more.

He crouched beside her, and his long, thin fingers with their glossy, manicured nails connected with her cheek, caressing her skin.

She shuddered.

“Look at me, Natasha.”

She closed her eyes, refusing to obey, determined not to give in to his command, fighting to regain the tattered remnants of her dignity.

His fingers tightened, squeezing her cheek, pinching the skin. He twisted her face toward him with a jerk. “I said, look at me.”

Broken Trust is award-winning author, C.B. Clark’s fourth romantic suspense novel published by The Wild Rose Press. My Brother’s Sins and Cherished Secrets were released in 2016, and Bitter Legacy in 2017. C.B. has always loved reading, especially romances, but it wasn’t until she lost her voice for a year that she considered writing her own romantic suspense stories. She grew up in Canada’s Northwest Territories and Yukon. Graduating with a degree in Anthropology and Archaeology, she has worked as an archaeologist and an educator. She enjoys hiking, canoeing, and snowshoeing with her husband and dog near her home in the wilderness of central British Columbia.

Cody Ryan gets way more than she bargained for on vacation when she enters the annual all-male Loon Lake Tournament and finds herself paired with a sexy Coast Guard captain.

Gage Connor needs a break from chasing drug smugglers off the Louisiana coast and heads to Alabama to do some fishing. He lock horns with Cody Ryan the moment he arrives at Loon Lake, and the sensual sparks fly.

The mayor of Loon makes up his own rules for the private town tournament. His knucklehead son plans to cheat to win the event, and his daughter just plans to cheat to win Gage Connor.

To further complicate matters, Gage is unaware Colombians stashed uncut diamonds on his borrowed bass boat before he left Louisiana, and they want their diamonds back. The Colombians are playing for keeps and will stop at nothing to retrieve their stash — even kidnapping.

Holy cow!

Gage looked over Lila’s head and saw Cody stomping toward the dock, a big Igloo cooler in her arms, fire in her eyes, and steam escaping from her ears. He swallowed hard and tried to pry free, but Lila would have none of that.

“Now you just hold still, cutie patootie,” she drawled, “and let little ole Lila give you your good luck hug.” She crushed her barely-covered breasts against his abdomen, the neckline on her tank top drooping almost to her navel.

Cody reached the dock and stomped so hard he could feel the vibration in the boards. Her glare could singe the fins off an alligator gar, and he had Lila stuck to him like a tick. He was a sitting duck.

Cody looked even madder now than when she left to get the rest of her gear, which could only mean…

She was jealous.

Of Lila.

Cody’s glare deepened upon final approach.

He grinned for real.

Zeke Tumson, my ass. She likes me.

He stopped trying to struggle free of Lila and waited for Cody to get to the boat and the fireworks to begin. Lila felt his struggle cease and snuggled in closer, rubbing every inch of her front against him and laying her cheek on his chest. A week ago, Lila’s antics would have elicited a very pronounced and noticeable reaction. Today — he glanced down to check — nothing. His gaze shot to Cody steaming down the dock. Had she done this to him?

“Mmmm,” Lila cooed and squiggled her body again, “good luuuuck.”

Cody marched mere steps away. When Lila purred, Cody hesitated for the span of a second, made a sharp left, stepped down into the johnboat, and proceeded to hook up her livewell. He waited a five-count. Cody kept her head down and fooled with the tubing attached to the cooler. He had to move. If he didn’t, Lila would be in his shorts any second.

Maybe he should let…

Nope, bad idea. Cody would push him overboard later and drive off and leave him. Heck, she may already be planning to do just that.

He cleared his throat to be sure Cody heard. “Thanks for seeing us off, Lila,” he said politely.

No reaction from Cody.

“I didn’t come to see her off,” Lila said in a snit. “Just yoouu,” she cooed and rubbed her breasts against him again.

Cody missed it. She never looked up.

“All right, you get on back to your registration table, and let me get to my fishing.” He took her shoulders and physically set her back.

Cody finished with the livewell and picked up a fishing rod.

Lila batted her eyelashes. “I’ll be waiting when you get back, sugar. What say we have dinner tonight?”

No way was he answering that question. He smiled and stuck a foot out to step down in the johnboat. Lila chose that instant to hook her finger into his belt loop to tug him back.

Too late, Gage saw the butt end of Cody’s rod push off on the dock cleat, and the johnboat shot back the full three feet of loose bow and stern line.

His sneaker stepped out into thin air, and he dropped like a rock.

He hit the water at an angle, and Lila followed him in, her index finger still hooked in his belt loop.

Petie spent a large part of her career working at Walt Disney World — “The Most Magical Place on Earth” — where she enjoyed working in the land of fairy tales by day and creating her own romantic fairy tales by night, including her new series, The Cinderella Romances. She eventually said good-bye to her “day” job to write her stories full-time. These days Petie spends her time writing sequels to her regency time-travel series, Lords in Time, and her mystery-romance-with-elements-of-suspense series, the Mystery Angel Romances.

Petie shares her home on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with her horticulturist husband, a spoiled-rotten English Springer spaniel addicted to pimento-stuffed green olives, and a noisy Nanday conure named Sassy who made a cameo appearance in Angel to the Rescue.

What if, in the near future, we could choose the body we wanted? We could visit a store front, much like a neighborhood mom-and-pop shop, and we’d see all the available bodies lined up in a glass-enclosed case. We’d be able to choose the body we wanted, purchase it, have an operation, and wham bam! wake up with our new body.

Dr. Farkis begins his head transplant operations in secret in Oakland, California and Tokyo, Japan. When news filters out about his revolutionary surgery, individuals from all walks of life come forward, desperate for a new body and an improved life that only Dr. Farkis can offer. We meet: Barry, so frantic for a new body, he stalks the doctor and bargains with a menacing ultimatum; Aiko, father of 19-year-old Kaneko, who demands that she undergo the operation to become more attractive to snag a husband; and finally, Baby, who finds out the hard way that demanding a new body may end up being fatal.

Choosing the perfect physique from a smorgasbord of available bodies may seem like a dream . . . until it becomes a nightmare.

“I’m saying that you can’t leave.” Farkis shrugged nonchalant. “Not now that you’ve heard about our little operation here. You see, once you have the surgery, we erase your memory of the pre-consultation. Instead, you’ll think you were on a fat farm for six weeks.” The doctor looked proud. He leaned in towards them. “That was my idea, by the way. The fake memory,” he whispered. “Clever, eh?”

“Of course,” he added, “you can leave after you recover from the operation, since you won’t remember anything. And if you see anyone with a faint scar around their neck in the future, because this is sure to catch on, you know, you’ll be conditioned to ignore it.”

Denny stopped pacing. “Is this a joke?” His eyes looked wild, like a caged animal’s.

“If it’s a joke, it’s not funny,” Baby added. Her voice trembled and she hiccupped.

“Oh, believe me. It’s not a joke.”

Farkis stood up from the desk and walked over to the wall adjacent the door. He pressed a fist-sized red button. The wall behind the chalkboard slid open. A cold blast of air swept into the room as if a freezer door had been left open.

“Follow me,” the doctor commanded. “I’ll show you the available bodies. You can choose the one you like.” He grinned, directing his comment to Baby.

“Well, as long as I don’t have any long-lasting scars…” Baby commented in a soft, distant voice.

The crazy doctor then turned to Denny. “Of course, I’ll need a $1.2 million deposit from you, dear Mr. Denny. Don’t worry,” he added when he noticed Denny’s face became flushed with astonishment. “Baby’s already given me a few of your account details…”

Before Denny could protest and insist that the doctor show them out ASAP, they’d stepped inside the cold room. That’s when he saw frozen, naked bodies stacked up on a Ferris wheel-like contraption. Denny promptly fainted.

Baby stepped over him and followed the doctor. She couldn’t wait to pick out her new body.

Joanie Chevalier works full-time in beautiful San Francisco as a legal assistant. She also freelances as a content editor for indie authors. She loves camping in her teardrop trailer and she thinks her two Chihuahuas are adorable.

Her writing is a blend of everything she likes to read: Suspense, horror, crime, psychological, non-fiction, and a good short story. She’s had several of her shorts in anthologies and she’s always on the lookout for more ideas.